Tuesday, August 18, 2020

The Lost Princess by Rebbe Nachman of Breslov with Notes by Rabbi Norbert Weinberg

 The Lost Princess by Rebbe Nachman of Breslov

 

Notes by Rabbi Norbert Weinberg


For the live reading and discussion, go to:

https://youtu.be/HjefbgCFXrc

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov( Bratslav). Great grandson of Besht, c end of 18th century. Kafka before Kafka, father of modern Hebrew before modern Hebrew.

In his short life, Rebbe Nachman achieved much acclaim as a teacher and spiritual leader, and is considered a seminal figure in the history of Hasidism. His contributions to Hasidic Judaism include the following:

·         He rejected the idea of hereditary Hasidic dynasties. . .. He believed that every Jew has the potential to become a tzaddik.[18]

·         He emphasized that a tzaddik should magnify the blessings on the community through his mitzvot. the Hasid should pray only to God, not to the Rebbe.

·          choose one personal mitzvah to be very strict about, and do the others with the normal amount of care.[19]

·         He encouraged his disciples to take every opportunity to increase holiness in themselves and their daily activities.

·         He urged everyone to seek out his own and others' good points in order to approach life in a state of continual happiness.. . .. And if he cannot find any good points, he should at least be happy that he is a Jew. This "good point" is God's doing, not his.

·         He placed great stress on living with faith, simplicity, and joy

·         He emphasized the importance of intellectual learning and Torah scholarship.

·         He frequently recited extemporaneous prayers. He taught that his followers should spend an hour alone each day, talking aloud to God in his or her own words, as if "talking to a good friend." This is in addition to the prayers in the siddur. Breslover Hasidim still follow this practice today, which is known as hitbodedut (literally, "to make oneself be in solitude"). Rebbe Nachman taught that the best place to do hitbodedut was in a field or forest, among the natural works of God's creation. Dvekus.

·         He emphasized importance of music for spiritual development and religious practice.[20]

 This is a text of his classic tale, The Lost Princess, in English paraphrase 

 

Book cover from Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan translation
Book cover of Rabbi Aryeh Kapaln translation


From the Hebrew intorduction
Hebrew Introduction

On the way I told  a story that whoever heard it had a thought of teshuvah, return. And this is the story.

The Princess Is Lost

Once, there was a king. The king had six sons and one daughter. The daughter was very dear to him, and he would cherish her exceedingly and play with her very much.

One time, while he was together with her on a certain day he became angry with her and the words, "Let the not-good one take you away !" escaped from his mouth. At night she went to her room; in the morning no one knew where she was. Her father was very afflicted and went here and there looking for her. The viceroy  arose because he saw the king was very distressed, and asked to be given an attendant, a horse and money for expenses, and he went to search for her. He searched hard for her, for a very long time, until he found her.

 

 

 

 The Viceroy Seeks Her a Long Time, Until He Finds Her

He went a long time, in deserts, fields and forests, and was seeking her quite a long time. He was going around in desert area and saw a way from the side. . . He went for a long time.

Later on he saw a castle and many soldiers standing around it. The castle was very beautiful, with the soldiers standing around it in fine order. . .  He came to a palace and saw the king sitting there with a crown . . . it was very pleasant and beautiful there. . .  went and lay down in a corner to see what would be done there.

He saw that the king called for the queen to be brought. . . they placed a throne for her and seated her next to him. And she was the king's daughter, and  the viceroy saw her and recognized her. Later, the queen glanced and saw someone lying in a corner. She recognized him and rose from her throne, went to him, touched him and asked him, "Do you recognize me?" And he answered her, "Yes, I know you. You are the king's daughter who was lost."

 

 

 


The Advice of How She Can Be Taken Out; the Viceroy Does Not Endure

He asked her, "How is it that you've come here?" She answered him, "Because my father the king let the word escape (namely, that "the not-good shall take you"), and here, this is the place that is not good." He told her that her father was very distressed, and that he had been searching for many years. And he asked her, "How can I take you out?" She answered him, "You cannot take me out unless you choose for yourself a place and remain there for one year; and the entire year you must yearn for me, to take me out; and whenever you have free time you must only yearn, ask and hope expectantly to take me out, and you must fast. And on the last day of the year you must fast and you must not sleep the entire twenty-four hour period ." He went and did so, and at the end of the year on the last day he fasted and did not sleep, and he arose and went there (that is, to the king's daughter, to take her out). He saw a tree and on it were growing very beautiful apples, and it was very desirable to his eyes, and he went and ate from them. As soon as he ate the apple, he fell down and sleep overtook him, and he slept a very long time. His attendant tried to wake him, but he could not be awakened at all.

 

 

Later he awoke from his sleep and asked the attendant, "Where am I in the world?" He [the attendant] told him the whole story. "You have been sleeping a very long time. It is already several years. He found her ( the king's daughter. She lamented to him very much. "If you would have just come on that day you would have taken me out of here, and because of one day you lost. . . . In truth, not to eat is a very difficult thing, especially on the last day, when the evil inclination becomes very strong. . . . Therefore choose for yourself a place again, and also stay there a year, as before, and on the last day you will be permitted to eat — only, do not sleep, and do not drink wine so that you will not sleep, because the main thing is sleep." He went and did so.

On the last day he was going there, and he saw a running spring . . . And he went and tasted from the spring. He immediately fell down and slept many years, until seventy years. . . .there sat the king's daughter. She stood next to him, went down and sat next to him and recognized him. And she tried very much to wake him, but he could not be woken. She started to lament over him, that "so many, so many great efforts and toils you tortuously made these many, many years in order to take me out, and for one day, when you could have taken me out, you completely lost," and she cried very much about this. She said, "It is a great pity on you and on me, that I am here such a long time and cannot go out," etc. Afterwards she took the scarf off her head, and wrote on it with her tears and laid it down next to him, and stood up and sat in her carriage and rode away.

 

 


 

The Lament of the Princess; How She Can Yet Be Found

Afterwards he awoke . . .he glanced and noticed the scarf lying next to him. He asked, "Who is this from?" He answered him, "She left it behind and wrote on it with her tears." He took the scarf and raised it up against the sun and began to see the letters. He read what was written there: her lamentation and her cries, as mentioned; and (it was written there) that now, she is no longer in the castle; he should just search for a golden mountain and a pearl castle; "There, you will find me." . . .

Afterwards he noticed a very large man whose largeness was beyond human bounds and he was carrying a large tree, so large that in a settled area such a large tree would not exist, and he [the giant] asked him, "Who are you?" He answered him, "I am a man." He was amazed and said, "I have been in the wilderness such a long time now, and I have never seen a man." He told him the whole story mentioned above and that he's looking for a golden mountain and a pearl castle. He replied to him, "It certainly does not exist." And he dissuaded him and said to him, "They have convinced you with nonsense, because it certainly does not exist." . . ."With certainty it does exist, in some place. . . "In my opinion it is nonsense, but because you are so stubborn, look — I am the appointee over all the animals. I will act for your sake and summon all the animals. . . .They all replied that they had not seen. He said to him, "See, they have talked nonsense into you. . . "Look, I have a brother in the wilderness and he is the appointee over all the birds. Maybe they will know, since they fly high in the air. Maybe they have seen this mountain and the castle. Go to him, and tell him that I've sent you to him."

 

Children's edition, Hebrew


 He went many, many   years. . ..again found a very large man, as before, and he also carried a large tree and also questioned him as before. . . ."This certainly does not exist;" and the viceroy also disputed with him, "It certainly does exist!" He called up all the birds and asked all of them, from small to large. They answered him that they do not know of the mountain and the castle. He told him, "Don't you see it is certainly not here in the world. . . He told him, "Further in the wilderness is my brother; he is appointee over all the winds and they run over the whole world; perhaps they know."

He found the man and again,. . . Not one of them knew of the mountain and the castle. He said to him (the third man to the viceroy), "Don't you see that you have been told nonsense?" The viceroy began to cry very much and said, "I know it surely does exist!"

Just then, he saw that another wind had arrived. The appointee became angry with him. "Why have you so delayed in coming? Didn't I decree that all the winds should come? Why didn't you come with them?!" He answered him, "I was delayed because I had to carry a king's daughter to a golden mountain with a pearl castle." !. . .

The appointee over the winds replied to the viceroy, "Since it is such a long time that you have been searching for her, and you have spent so much effort, and perhaps you will now have a hindrance due to money, therefore I will give you a vessel, [such] that when you put your hand into it, you will get money from there." And he summoned the wind to carry him there. The storm wind came and carried him there and brought him to the gate, and standing there were soldiers who did not let him enter the city. He put his hand into the vessel and took out money and bribed them and went into the city. It was a beautiful city. And he went to a man of means and rented food and lodging for himself, for one must remain there, for one needs to see with wisdom and intellect in order to take her out. (And how he took her out, he did not tell.) (But) in the end, he took her out. Amen, Selah.

************************

Children's Edition, English


The Tale of the  Lost Princess is easily adapted for children, as seen from the picture of children's versions.However, like so many stories, the childlike simplicity hides profound issues ( as in Gulliver's Travels or Alice in Wonderland). 

Here is what is hidden in the tale, the Kabbalistic imagery.


Who is the King?  Keter-Binah-Chochmah the three first sefirot( emanations) of the ein sof( the utterly infinite , utterly incomprehensible).

 Who is the “  Ha Lo Tov, Der Nisht Gitter, the Not Good One"? The sitra achara- the other side, the dark side, the opposite of all that is Godly.

Who are the six sons? The six Sefirot- Chesed, Gevurah, Tiferet,Netzach, Hod, Yesod

Who is the daughter? The tenth sefira, Malkhut- the feminine royalty, also  Shekhinah, the feminine presence, or Matrona. the Lady It is the point of interaction between God and the world. It is joined, as a man is joined to a woman. In classic Kabbala, the Shekhinah has been ripped asunder from the realm of the Sefirot. It has been captured by the Sitra Achara. An element of the divine is trapped inside the realm of evil, Alma di peruda, the world of separation.

Who is the viceroy? Adam, the human being, who must restore the princess. He fails the very first test ( the apple). He fails the second test during  the time of the first Temple. He sleeps for  seventy years, the length of the first exile. All he has left is the scarf written in tears—the Torah- Ha nigla ve hanistar, that which has been revealed and that which has been hidden.

The Viceroy then is the Jew, as  the specific embodiment of Adam, especially the devout Jew, the Jew who struggles with his passions and failings, the one confronted by the ridiculousness of the task, until he finds that one last witness to his truth. Then redemption eventually comes, personal, national, universal.




Tuesday, August 4, 2020

Na -Nach-Nachman-Me-Uman Notes on the greatest story-teller of all times, Rebbe Nachman of Bratslav --Lecture 4 on Chasidism

Na -Nach-Nachman-Me-Uman

Notes on the greatest story-teller of all times, Rebbe Nachman of Bratslav

Source notes from Wikipedia and other sites


For the recorded discussion, go to:https://youtu.be/2DRly7WHJ4U

Nachman of Breslov (Hebrew: נחמן מברסלב), also known as Reb Nachman of Bratslav, Reb Nachman Breslover (Yiddish: רבי נחמן ברעסלאווער‎), Nachman from Uman (April 4, 1772 – October 16, 1810), was the founder of the Breslov Hasidic movement.

 


Rebbe Nachman, a great-grandson of the Baal Shem Tov, revived the Hasidic movement by combining the esoteric secrets of Judaism (the Kabbalah) with in-depth Torah scholarship. He attracted thousands of followers during his lifetime, and his influence continues today through many Hasidic movements such as Breslov Hasidism.[1] Rebbe Nachman's religious philosophy revolved around closeness to God and speaking to God in normal conversation "as you would with a best friend."

Also, the father of modern Yiddish and Hebrew literature-since he write his stories in both languages,before Sholem Aliechem and Peretz, before Mapua and Bialik, long before these had become modern literary languages.

 

Recommended reading:Arthur Green, The Tormented Master.

“If Hasidism begins in the life-enhancing spirituality of the Baal Shem Tov, it concludes in the tortuous, elitist and utterly fascinating career of Nahman of Bratslav (1722–1810).

            “Nahman of Bratslav is unique in the history of Judaism, Green emphasizes, for having made the individual’s quest for intimacy with God the center of the religious way. He was a Kierkegaard before his time, believing in the utter abandon of the life of faith and the risk of paradoxicality. . . . He was, more than all others, the predecessor of Kafka, whose tales, like Nahman’s, have no explicit key and rankle, flush and irritate the spirit, compelling us—even in our failure to understand—to acknowledge their potency and challenge.”—New York Times

 

 

Hisbodedus-Hitbodedut-Isolation

 

Secluded meditation practices were encouraged by many medieval rabbis, such as Abraham Maimonides, Abraham Abulafia, Joseph Gikatilla, Moses de Leon, Moses Cordovero, Isaac Luria, and Chaim Vital.[2] The founder of Hasidism, the Baal Shem Tov, encouraged his close disciples to find deveikus through hisbodedus and by meditating on the kabbalistic unifications (yichudim) of Isaac Luria.[3]

 Rebbe Nachman taught that the best place for hitbodedut is in the forests or fields. "When a person meditates in the fields, all the grasses join in his prayer and increase its effectiveness and power," he wrote.[5]

Modern influence- the song of Naomi Shemer Shirat Ha-asavim:

Da lekha,
shekol ro'eih ve ro'eih
yeish lo nigun meyuchad mishelo.

Do know
that each and every shepherd
has his own tune.

Do know
that each and every grass
has its own poem.

 https://youtu.be/GDw_2sHhxXQ

Sung by Shuli Rand, popular Israeli actor-photos below show then and  then and now:



 

During a session of hitbodedut, the practitioner pours out his heart to God in his own language, describing all his thoughts, feelings, problems and frustrations.

"It is very good to pour out your thoughts before God like a child pleading before his father. God calls us His children, as it is written (Deuteronomy 14:1), "You are children to God." Therefore, it is good to express your thoughts and troubles to God like a child complaining and pestering his father."[9]

Hitbodedut also lends itself to certain silent meditation techniques. One is the "silent scream," which Rebbe Nachman himself practiced. He described the silent scream as follows:You can shout loudly in a "small still voice




 Munch, The Scream

A Breslaver in the woods( also Shukli Rand, Ushpizin)

 A contemporary psychological example of screaming for therapy.


The scream-1st 30 seconds: https://youtu.be/gSoMvDJyp0w

 

 

Another form of hitbodedut is called bitul (nullification), in which the practitioner meditates on God's presence to the exclusion of all other things, including himself. ( Unmindfulness?)

(Bitul hayesh- Nullification of the “in one’s self”. Yesh.( There is) This is an extension of concept found in early Jewish sources, of the nullification of one’s will in the presence of God’s will, also very common in mystic thought world-wide.) ( The opposite of Descartes, I think, therefore I am.)

 

Old joke: how many Breslavers does it take to change a light bulb- zero- the bulb can never be replaced.

 

 

 

 

 

Addressing psychological needs:

From Tablet Magazine:https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/reb-nachman-explains-it-all  Chaya Rivka Zwolinski

 

Because the Rebbe didn’t shy away from boldly addressing popular modern topics, from sex and drugs to music and food, navigating familial and societal pressures, depression and anxiety, meditation and prayer, and of course, spirituality, birth, and death, Breslov is often cited as the body of Hasidic thought most essential to our times.

The Rebbe also openly addresses other addictions and compulsions, everything from tobacco to self-destructive and de-humanizing sexual attitudes. He explains the power of the imagination and imagery and how they affect emotions and even reality, taking a close look at the potentially negative power of magical thinking. Depression, sadness, feeling that life is futile—Rebbe Nachman also offers insights into the tenor of our heads and hearts and advice on how to develop emotional fortitude in a world that often doesn’t make sense.


 

On Kafka and Rebbe Nachman Discovering Kafka and Rabbi Nachman

Dan FriedmanNovember 3, 2010 Forward

 

Why Kafka and Nachman of Bratslav? Interview

R.K. I was struck by two things. One, I was teaching a course on literature and Jewish mysticism at Louisiana State, and I was interested in the idea of considering mystical literature as literature. So “The Zohar” is once described as a romancero, a Spanish picaresque novel with rabbis roaming through the landscape. What happens if you start tracing a line through Jewish mystical literature, and you come to Rabbi Nachman, who’s actually in a certain way a literary figure — the inventor of the Yiddish tale (even though these tales are infused with Jewish mysticism)? Then you cross over the secular line; the next writer up in Kafka, who is clearly a literary writer but whose stories are full of theological content, as Gershom Scholem would say. And in fact, as Scholem indicates, if you want to understand Kabbalah in our time, you’d have to read Rabbi — You’d have to read Franz Kafka.

Which takes us to Kafka, who best summarized our contemporary life as a Cockroach.

Kafka as a Jew https://muse.jhu.edu/article/24490

·         Walter H. Sokel (bio)

 Jewishness and Judaism began to matter very much to him from 1911 on, when Kafka was twenty-eight. From that time on, he began to be intensely occupied with Jewish history, Jewish tradition, Jewish lore, and Jewish culture—an interest which was not only sustained but constantly grew until his death in 1924 at the age of forty. It is significant for his writing that Kafka’s turn to Judaism preceded by less than one year what he called his breakthrough to the work of his maturity, to the kind of writing that established his posthumous fame and for which the adjective kafkaesque has been coined. As I shall try to show, there exists a connection between the peculiar nature of Kafka’s mature writing and his discovery of what he considered to be authentic Judaism, which he regretted bitterly not having known until then.

The Yiddish theater group( c 1911-12) from . . .came to Kafka as a revelation and prepared him for the breakthrough in his writing.

That encounter affected both his life and his work. . . .. He immediately began to study the history of Judaism, read about and in the Talmud and later the Kabbalah; in fact, near the end of his life he called “this whole literature,” by which he meant mainly his own writings, “potentially a new . . . kabbalah,” “an assault on the frontier” (T 553). With a series of teachers he took up the consistent study of Hebrew. He subscribed to the Zionist journal, Selbstwehr or Self-Defense, and he published two of his stories in Der Jude (The Jew), a Zionist journal edited by Martin Buber. Although aloof from any political involvement [End Page 845] in Zionism, Kafka began to toy with the idea of emigrating to Palestine and working on a kibbutz.

 

On Going impact today:

Followers


Na Nach is the name of a subgroup of Breslover Hasidim that follows the teachings of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov according to the tradition of Rabbi Yisroel Ber Odesser (called the Saba, or grandfather, by Na Nachs). The Saba is believed to have received an inspirational note, called the Petek (note), from the long-deceased Rebbe Nachman.[citation needed] Devotees of the group, colloquially called Na Nachs, make themselves quite visible in the streets of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Safed, Tiberias, and other Israeli cities as they dance atop and around moving vans to techno-Hasidic musical compositions, with the goal of spreading joy to passersby.[1][2][3]. They are identifiable by their large, white, crocheted yarmulkes bearing the name and song from the petek that Rabbi Odesser revealed: Na Nach Nachma Nachman Meuman.

https://youtu.be/gSoMvDJyp0w ( after 1st 30 seconds)

 

Our version of Hare Krishna

https://youtu.be/iJzG2S6MfkE

( A lot of Jews in oriental mysticism: Baba Ram Das( Richard Alpert). I first heard Hare Krishna from the poet Allen Ginsburg)

 

  Quotes:

·         לעולם אל יהא אדם זקן. לא צדיק זקן ולא חסיד זקן. הזקנה מידה מגונה היא, חייב אדם להתחדש תמיד, מתחיל וחוזר ומתחיל

o    L'olam al yehe adam zaken, lo tzadik zaken v'lo hasid zaken. Hazikna mida meguna hi, hayav adam l'hithadesh tamid, mathil v'hozer u'mathil

o    One must never be old, neither an old saint nor an old follower. Being elderly is a vice; a man must always renew, begin and go back and begin anew 

·         'אין יאוש בעולם כלל

o    Ein ye'ush ba'olam klal.

o    There is no despair in the world.

o     

o    “As the situation in the Warsaw Ghetto became more desperate for the Jews, Ringelblum’s archive still records the defiance of religious Jews in the face of Nazi terror. On February 19, 1941, the Oneg Shabbos records the following: In the prayer house of the Pietists from Braclow on Nowolipie Street there is a large sign: “Jews, Never Despair!” The Pietists dance there with the same religious fervor as they did before the war. After prayers one day, a Jew danced there whose daughter had died the day before.”

·         אם אתה מאמין שיכולים לקלקל, תאמין שיכולים לתקן

o    Im ata ma'amin sh'ykholim lekalkel, ta'amin sh'yecholim letaken.

o    If you believe breaking is possible, believe fixing is possible.

·         כל העולם כולו גשר צר מאוד, והעיקר - לא לפחד כלל.

o    Kol ha'olam kulo gesher tzar me'od, veha'ikar lo le'fached klal.

o    All the world is a very narrow bridge, and the most important thing is not to be overwhelmed by fear.

o    https://youtu.be/I6bAP1_zNL4 as sung today in Krakow

o     

o    זכור תמיד: השמחה איננה עניין שולי במסעך הרוחני – היא חיונית

o    Z'khor tamid: ha'simha einena 'inyan shuli b'masa'akh ha'ruhani - hi hyunit.

o    Always remember: happiness is not a side matter in your spiritual journey - it is essential.

·         היום אתה חש מרומם. אל תתן לימות האתמול והמחר להשפיל את רוחך

o    Hayom ata hash m'romam. Al titen l'ymot ha'etmol v'hamahar lehashpil at ruhekha.

o    Today you feel uplifted. Do not let yesterday and tomorrow bring you down.

·         נהוג לחשוב שהשכחה הינה חסרון. אני סבור שהיא יתרון. לדעת לשכוח, פירושו להשתחרר מכל תלאות העבר

o    Nahug lahshov sh'hashikh'ha hina hisaron. Ani savur sh'hi yitaron. Lada'at lishko'ah, peyrusho le'hishtahrer m'kol tla'ot ha'avar.

o    It is customary to consider forgetfulness a disadvantage. I believe it is an advantage. Knowing to forget, means loosening the troubles of the past.

o     

·         אני יכול עכשיו לומר כל חכמי ישראל דומין עלי כקליפת השום. - 

o    I can now say: All the sages of Israel are in my estimation like a garlic peel.

o     

 

 

JOY

It is a great mitzvah to always be happy. (LM2 34)

Mitzvah gedoylah lihyios besimchah tamid.

https://youtu.be/iMiZ-cFghlc

 

 

It is even good to do silly things in order to cheer oneself up. (ibid)

 

https://youtu.be/3LfNEPIa27k Here how the Breslavers keep happy in the streets-


PRAYER

When a person has a yearning for something and he brings it out into words, a soul is created. This soul flies in the air and reaches another person thereby awakening in him too a yearning. (Ibid)

Behold! Precious is the sigh (called ‘krechtz’) from a Jewish person (LM 8)

 

ENCOURAGEMENT AND TESHUVA

You need to have great stubbornness in the service of Hashem (ibid)

This is a great principal in Avodas Hashem – That a person has to begin everyday anew. (LM 261)

When a person falls from his level he should know that it’s heaven-sent, because going down is needed in order to go up, therefore he fell, in order that he arouses himself more to come close to Hashem. Advice for him - Begin anew to enter into service of Hashem as if you have never yet even begun (Ibid)

It is a great thing for a person to still have an evil inclination because then he is able to serve Hashem with the evil inclination itself. That is, to take all of the fire in his heart and channel it towards service of Hashem. For example, to pray with fiery passion of the heart, etc. For, if there is no evil inclination in a person his service cannot be complete. (LM2 49)

A person must know that “Gods glory fills the entire world” (Isiah 6), and “There is no place void of Him” (Tikunei Zohar), and “He fills all worlds and surrounds all worlds” (Zohar)… even in the most defiled places there is godliness, for He gives life to everything as it says, “And you give life to everything” (Nechemia 9). So even if a person is stuck in the lowest of places he cannot excuse himself and say “I cannot serve Hashem here because of all the thickness and materialism that attacks me always,” for even there you can find Him and cling to Him and do complete teshuva, “For it is not far from you” (devarim 30), only that in this place there are many garments.”(LM 33)

SIMPLICITY

A person shouldn’t take upon himself added stringencies, as our Rabbis taught ‘The torah was not given to angels.’ This can make him fall from his service of Hashem. The greatest wisdom of all wisdoms is not to be wise at all, rather to be pure and honest with simplicity. (LM2 44)


HOLY CHUTZPAH

You need to know that just as evil arrogance is a very bad character trait, so too a person needs to have holy arrogance. Because it is impossible to come to the true tzaddikim or to draw near to holiness without arrogance as our rabbis taught, “Be bold as a leopard” (LM 22:11) …On this it is said, “a timid person cannot be a learned person.” (LM 271)

 


SONG AND DANCE

When there are harsh judgments on the Jewish people, God forbid, through dancing and clapping ones hands, the judgments are sweetened (LM 10:1)

When one sings the words of prayer and the song resonates with great clarity and purity, he enclothes the shechina (divine presence) with luminous clothing (LM 42)


LOVE YOUR FELLOW LOVE YOURSELF

Know! You need to judge every person favorably, even someone who is completely wicked, you need to search and find any little bit of good. By finding in him a little good and judging him favorably you actually bring him over to the side of merit and you can return him in teshuva (LM 282)

A person also needs to find in himself a little bit of good. Because no matter how low a person is, how can it be that he didn’t do one good thing in his entire life? (ibid)

Every single Jew has a point in them that is uniquely precious. And it is with this point that he bestows upon, enlightens, and arouses the heart of others. We all need to accept this arousal and this unique point from each other. As it says, “And they receive one from another” (Isaiah 3). (LM 34)

Every single Jew has in him a portion of God above. (LM 35)


PERSONAL REDEMPTION AND ENLIGHTENMENT

When a person knows that everything that happens to him is for the best, this is a taste of the world to come. (LM 4)

Know that the primary essence of exile is only our lack of belief. (LM 7)

Gan Eiden and Geihinom are literally in this world. (Ibid 22)


THE TZADDIK

Rebbe Nachman would often tell his students about the great level that he reached in order to get them jealous and inspire them to serve Hashem like he does. One time someone responded to him, “Who can possibly reach the level of the Tzaddkim like yourself, certainly you were all created with really great souls.” Rebbe Nachman answered him in a stringent manner; “This is the main problem with you all, that you think the greatness of the Tzaddikim are due to their high level of soul, that is not true, every single person can reach my level and be exactly like me. It all depends on effort and honest work.” (sichos haran 165).

“Know and believe, if its possible to take one person out of the garbage dump, anyone who holds on to that person will come out as well.” (SH 209)